


In The Eyes of the Beholder

by sorryinadvance



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Blue Eyes, Boneyard Kegger, Bromance, Charity Event, Dancing, Drunken Shenanigans, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Hero JJ, Hooligan Shit, JJ (Outer Banks) Deserves Better, JJ Gets Into A Fight, JJ Has A Heart of GOld, JJ Lowkey Has Feelings for Kiara, JJ WIth Kids, Jiara - Freeform, John B Is John B, Kiara Almost Dies, Kiara Gets Into A Fight, Kiara Likes JJ's Eyes, Kiara Lowkey Has Feelings For JJ, Mention of abuse, Mild Ansgt, Mild Cursing, Ocean, Pogues (Outer Banks), Pogues Are Crackheads, Pope Is Uncomfortable, Pre-Season/Series 01, Surfing, Totally Platonic Staring, kooks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:35:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorryinadvance/pseuds/sorryinadvance
Summary: 5 times Kiara stares at JJ's eyes in a totally platonic way...right?
Comments: 13
Kudos: 124





	In The Eyes of the Beholder

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by the Ocean Eyes remix by Billie Eilish and Blackbear. 
> 
> The idea kind of just came to me when I was rewatching the hot tub scene, but the song really got me inspirred. This is all pre-season 1, right after Kiara comes back from her Kook year. I hope ya'll like it and don't forget to leave a kudos or comment!

_“I've been watching you_

_For some time_

_Can't stop staring_

_At those oceans eyes_

_Burning cities_

_And napalm skies_

_Fifteen flares inside those ocean eyes_

_Your ocean eyes”_

_—Ocean Eyes Remix by Billie Eilish ft. Blackbear_

i. 

Kiara and JJ had always been close. After her Kook year, she had to work twice as hard to get him to trust her again while John B. and Pope had welcomed her back with open arms. JJ would go out of his way to ignore her when she came around. Then, he got mean like he was trying to scare her off again. She got mean right back because there was no way in Hell he was going to get rid of her that easy. Not again. It made things a little strained in the group, but John B and Pope always had her back. They acted as buffers and turned JJ’s harshness down a couple of notches. JJ was hurt, she knew that, and she found herself worrying if she was ever going to get her friend back. Until, one day, they fell back into place like puzzle pieces.

Kiara and the guys were spending the day out at the beach surfing. The waves were so ideal that day even Pope was getting a couple of good ones in. Kiara had been pretty far out from where the boys were laughing and talking on the boards as they waited for their next wave. When she glanced back at them, she could see the brightness in JJ’s eyes that he seemed to only reserve for the Pogues and surfing. Except her. When he saw her, his eyes dulled, and it made her heart ache.

She missed her best friend. As infuriating as he was, JJ was still the person she told everything to or he was. She trusted and cared for him so much, and he had returned the sentiment way back when. They always had an easy-going nature between them. They bickered like an old married couple according to John B, but it was fun. He challenged her, made her think in ways no one ever could. She calmed him down and let him be vulnerable in his dark moments, especially when it came to his asshole father. They just clicked so effortlessly, and now their friendship had turned to shit thanks to Kiara’s selfishness.

Shaking her head, she tried to get the thoughts out of her head and focus on the waves. She came out here to surf and get her mind off things, and that’s what she was going to do.

Suddenly, a nice wave rolled in, and she paddled as hard as she could to claim it. When she got inside the wave, she stood to her feet and rode it out. She snapped and twisted. She felt the magic of the wave take over and light up her insides. The feeling of surfing had always brought her pure bliss and relaxed her in ways weed of sex never could.

She could hear John B and Pope cheering her on as she rode down the line before shooting up to snap her board across the wave’s surface again. Then, as she crouched down to ride the barrel before the wave broke, she felt her board go out from under her.

Kiara pitched forward and went under. She felt the cord attaching her to her board grow taunt and snap under the force of the wave. The undertow caught hold of her, and she was dragged into the ocean’s depths.

John B and Pope had cheered as Kiara rode what was probably the best wave of the day, while JJ watched silently. He knew how good of a surfer Kie was. He was the one who taught her everything she knows, and, even though no one would admit it to his face, JJ was the best surfer in the Cut. As angry as he was at her, he couldn’t help the burst of pride in his chest as he watched her snap across the top just like he taught her.

The boys watched as she rode through the barrel and saw her board slide out from under her. As the wave died out and rocked their boards, they looked for Kie’s head to reappear from the water. Only it didn’t.

“Kie? Kiara?” John B called out, worry filling his voice.

Her beautiful pale yellow board popped up from the water, but still no Kie.

JJ felt his heart drop. Without looking at the others, he began paddling out to where she had gone under. He could hear John B and Pope following him, but the further he got out, the harder it was for them to keep up. They were good surfers, but they struggled on days like this when the water got too choppy and the tide got wild.

He slid off his board when he got to where Kiara had disappeared and ducked underwater.

By the time John B and Pope got to JJ’s board, he had already been under for a few minutes. The two of them ducked their heads underwater, staying on their boards, but they couldn’t see anything. They sat there waiting, trusting JJ to find Kiara.

It had almost been five minutes, way too long for either of them to be underwater, and Pope was about to swim back to shore to get help, when JJ’s head broke the surface.

JJ gasped for air and spat out salt water, tugging Kiara’s limp body behind him. With John B’s help, he managed to slide her onto his board and start paddling them back to the shore. The others followed him.

“Is she breathing? It doesn’t look like she’s breathing. The human body can only last a few minutes underwater before their lungs start collapsing—” Pope said hysterically.

“Pope, shut up,” JJ ground out between his teeth.

“But—”

“Pope, man, go get her board. She would kill us if anything happened to it. That’s her favorite board,” John B, always the cool head, told Pope calmly. Pope hesitated before nodding and turning his board to get Kiara’s.

JJ and John B had finally gotten to shore, and, together, they dragged JJ’s board further up the sand. They had gone to an isolated part of the beach that day and had to hike from John B’s van to reach the water. By the time they got help, it might be too late.

They gently dropped the board onto the sand, and JJ checked her breathing. Her chest wasn’t moving.

“Fuck,” he shouted.

He started doing CPR like Big John had taught them when they were younger for situations like this. John B’s dad thought it would be good for them to know in case something happened when he wasn’t around to watch them in the water. Turns out it was a good idea.

JJ counted the compressions out loud before giving her mouth to mouth. He checked her chest again and still nothing. He repeated the cycle as John B stood frozen over them.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Kiara choked water out. JJ helped her sit up, and she rolled over to vomit up more water. He pounded on her back to help speed up the process.

Pope ran up to them, dragging his and Kiara’s boards behind him. John B laughed in relief, putting his arms behind his head. Kiara stopped choking out water and rolled back onto her back with a groan.

“Kie? Kie, are you okay?” Pope knelt next to her in the sand.

Too tired to respond, she nodded and gave them a half-hearted thumbs up. The boys all sighed in relief.

“Kie, hey, what happened?” John B asked softly. He was kneeling by her feet; concern clear all over his face.

That’s the thing about John B. He wore his emotions so clearly on his face. It was never hard to tell how he was feeling when all you had to do was watch his face.

“I don’t know. I was riding the barrel and all of a sudden, my board went out from under me. I remember feeling the cord snap, and the undertow caught me. I couldn’t get out of the current,” Kiara whispered, closing her eyes.

“You’re lucky JJ is a good fucking swimmer. Neither of us could have gotten to you fast enough,” John B told her.

Her eyes slowly opened and caught JJ’s gaze. He hadn’t moved from where he was crouched beside her from doing CPR. His blue eyes weren’t dull when he met her gaze. Instead, there was concern and even fear staring back at her.

“You got me out?”

JJ didn’t say anything. He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and stared back at her. He felt his body start to tremble.

“Hell, he did more than that. He did CPR on you while my dumbass was over here panicking,” John B continued, not quite noticing his best friend’s reaction.

Kiara’s eyes filled with tears. She couldn’t look away from JJ’s eyes. Staring up at them now, she realized she never noticed how clear they were. Like the color of the sky after a summer storm, so full of life yet so soft. They were beautiful, especially when they didn’t hold an icy hard glint when he looked at her. She blinked and the tears fell.

“Thank you, JJ,” she whispered.

She saw him swallow before nodding his head. For a moment, none of them said anything. John B and Pope watched their friends stare at each other, trying to decide if they should intervene or give them space.

Then, JJ’s body flinched like he had been electrocuted before he threw himself on top of Kiara and held her tightly to him. His whole body continued to tremble.

“Hey, it’s okay. JJ, I’m okay. I’m fine. You saved me,” Kiara murmured softly, rubbing soothing circles on his back.

A heartbeat passed and no one moved. They just watched JJ cling to Kiara for dear life as she spoke softly to him. Finally, his body stopped trembling and he let go.

“I’m sorry for being a dick to you,” JJ said, sniffling as he moved off her and back to his spot in the sand. Kiara smiled at him.

“It’s okay, JJ. Don’t worry about it, we’re cool.”

ii. 

It was a typical Saturday night for Kiara and her Pogues. They were at a kegger down in the Boneyard. When the sun fell and the stars came out, someone had started a bonfire and dragged out speakers to blast music into the night.

Kiara was dancing with some Tourons she had struck a conversation with by the keg. She dipped her hips and twirled, her long curls swinging behind her. She could see John B sweet talking a pretty redhead, no doubt a clueless Touron, who he would inevitably take back to the Chateau by the end of the night. There was Pope, on keg duty, as he handed out drinks to the other party-goers. She wondered how he had gotten dragged into that. Shrugging, she twisted with the music and faced the bonfire where she could see JJ leaning against a fallen tree, telling a group of girls some story that seemed to involve wildly elaborate arm gestures.

She rolled her eyes affectionately at his antics. Ever since the day she almost drowned out at the beach, JJ and her had been better. Much better. They weren’t as close as they were before her Kook year, but they were definitely past his cruel remarks and arguments. That’s a lie. They still argued, but it was back to that old married couple arguing rather than anything with heat behind it. She was beyond relieved though. It was progress that she was worried they were never going to make before he saved her.

A pair of strong arms grabbed onto her waist and pulled her against the owner. She turned to face them to see pretty brown eyes and freckles. It was some Kook she didn’t know, but the Kook status was obvious. From the crisp white Magellan shirt to the way his hair was neatly gelled into a stylish updo that only pretty boys could pull off. He gave her a smirk as she grinded her hips into his.

She gazed up at him from under her lashes before twisting out of his grip without breaking her dance and flirtatiously shook a finger at him. He laughed as she danced around him, rolling her hips and throwing her arms up around herself. He tried to follow, but she played keep away with him as they danced. It was actually pretty funny to watch him try catching her without breaking his movements, meanwhile, she moved fluidly around him, completely in tune with the music.

Finally, he caught hold of her wrist when she ran her fingers along his shoulders, and she laughed. The alcohol buzzed through her veins, making her feel light and content, and the beat of the music echoed in her chest. He pulled her to him, and she let him.

They moved together with the beat of the music so effortlessly. It was nothing like dancing with the guys or Tourons. John B was a good dancer, but he couldn’t quite match her natural talent. Pope was hopeless when it came to dancing. It was like watching a baby deer trying to walk for the first time, clumsy and awkward. JJ was probably the only one who could keep up with her. She had jokingly told him time and time again that he had amazing rhythm for a white boy, but he didn’t dance often. No matter how much she begged, he would only dance in the safety of her room when they blasted music from her stereo on nights her parents were gone for business.

She turned in the Kook’s arms so her back was to his front. She was facing the bonfire and met eyes with JJ, who was watching her from his spot against the tree.

The girls who had been listening to his story were all gone now, and he was sipping on beer from a red solo cup. When they made eye contact, JJ raised an eyebrow at her choice of dance partner. He could probably tell it was a Kook latched onto her hips.

In the firelight, his blue eyes danced. Even from this distance, she could see his crystal-clear blue eyes dilated from the alcohol and weed he had consumed tonight. The enlarged pupils made his eyes seem so much darker than they usually were. Now, they resembled the sky before lightning struck. Dark and dangerous, the complete opposite of him.

Kiara gave him a mischievous smile and winked at him. JJ rolled his eyes but returned her smile. He lazily raised his cup to her as the song ended.

Turning back to the Kook, she planted a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Thanks for the dance,” was all she said before sauntering off towards JJ.

“Kooks, huh?” was all JJ said as she approached him.

It was her turn to roll her eyes.

“It was nothing. He was a good dancer, and you know I can appreciate a guy who can dance,” she told him. She swiped the cup from his hand and took a sip.

He watched her with those same dark eyes. Up close, she could see the hint of gold from the firelight around his dilated irises.

“Sure, whatever you say, Kie.”

iii. 

Kiara was already settled in her plethora of blankets and pillows on her bed when she heard a tap at her bedroom window.

At first, she thought her sleepy mind imagined it. Then, there was another tap at the window. She squeezed her eyes shut, holding onto the thought of her mind just imagining the noise until a third tap filled the silence of her room.

Groaning, Kiara pulled herself out of her blankets and walked to the window. She slid it up slowly, careful not to make too much noise and wake her parents across the hall. When she stuck her head out, she saw JJ in her yard, arm cocked back to no doubt throw another pebble at her window.

“JJ, what the hell?” she whisper shouts down to him.

He grinned, or at least she assumed it was his grin that reflected off the light from the moon.

“Can I come up?” he whispers back.

Kiara glances back at her dark room, checking to see if there was a light under her door to show her parents heard them. The hall was still dark.

“Yeah, hurry up,” she tells him.

She walks away from the window as he climbs up to her second story window. She moves to lock the door to her room just in case her parents come looking, and, as she turns, JJ is pulling himself through her window and soundlessly closing it behind himself.

“JJ, it’s almost 2 AM. What are you doing—?” she trails off when she catches sight of his face.

With only the moon outside giving her room light, she sees the shadows of bruises on his jaw and cheek. There’s a gash on his forehead that’s dripping blood down his nose, and she can see blood on his lip.

“Please tell me that wasn’t your dad,” she whispers.

She reaches up to catch his face in her gentle hands and poke around to assess the damage. JJ catches one of her hands in his and squeezes.

“It wasn’t my dad. I swear to God it wasn’t. I was walking home from the Island Club and ran into some dumbass Kooks who were wasted and just wanted to find someone to beat up on.”

“Why were you walking? Where’s your bike?” she asks, still holding his face.

“Out of gas. I left it at John B’s place this morning, and he ended up dropping me off at work,” JJ explained. “You were the closest, so I came here. Didn’t really feel like going home if I’m already beat up, ya know?”

Kiara purses her lips but stays quiet.

He stares at the pile of blankets and pillows on her bed and curses. “Fuck Kie, I’m sorry. Were you sleeping? I shouldn’t have come. It’s pretty late, I’ll go.”

He pulled away from her to turn back to the window, but she grabbed onto one of the straps of his backpack.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re staying. I’m not letting you go home so your dad can beat up on you some more. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Without letting him respond, she tugs on the strap of his bag. He ends up walking backwards to follow her towards her restroom since she’s still got a death grip on his backpack. He almost ends up running into the doorway when he says, “I’m perfectly capable of walking on my own, thank you very much. I’ve got legs, ya know? They’re pretty nice too. Real muscular and shit. Hard not to notice them.”

She chuckled softly, careful not to make too much noise. She tugs him into the bathroom and closes the door behind them in case one of her parents decides to take a late-night stroll in the house and can’t see the light from the restroom on.

JJ slips his backpack off to put it on the ground and leans against the sink as she pulls the first aid kit out of her medicine cabinet.

In the light of the restroom, she can see his clothes are wrinkled and dirty. The bruises on his face are already swelling up, and the blood running down his nose is starting to crust.

She starts pulling gauze and hydrogen peroxide out when he catches her wrist. She sees his knuckles are bruised and swollen, too. Kiara looks up at him, eyebrows raised in question.

“Thank you,” he says, “for not turning me away.”

Kiara furrows her brow. “JJ, Pogue life, remember? You know you can come to me for anything, no matter what. We’re family.”

He silently searches her face. His icy blue eyes were framed by long blonde eyelashes she was always secretly jealous of. Boys always had insanely long lashes, and it wasn’t fair.

She loved his eyes, but she wouldn’t tell him that. It would only boost his ego more. His eyes were such an insane blue that she could imagine it would be hard for an artist to be able to capture perfectly. She had spent her pre-teen years admiring his eyes. They had always shined an impossible blue that she almost believed he had his own sky inside of him. She had seen those eyes when they carried an intimidating gleam in them, but she had also seen them when they danced with joy as he laughed at Pope’s jokes or at John B’s Will Farrell impersonation. In the sun, the blue flickered with every shade of blue and even sometimes gold. It made her wish she had blue eyes instead of her dull brown ones.

“Yeah, Pogue life. Always,” was all he said as he smiled at her. The corners of his eyes crinkled and the scab on his lip broke. Blood trailed down his chin and onto her restroom floor.

Sighing, Kiara dabbed at the blood with gauze. She told him to put his hand over the gauze and apply pressure while she cleaned the gash on his forehead. Cleaning him up didn’t take long once the bleeding from his lip stopped and had scabbed over again. In a matter of minutes, she was crawling back under her blankets as JJ was pulled his boots and work shirt off to slip in beside her.

“Hey, Kie, by the way…I _really_ like those pj shorts you got on,” was the last thing she heard before she drifted off to sleep.

She cracked one of her eyes open to glare at him. “Shut the hell up before I kick you off the bed.”

Kiara fell asleep to the sound of his hushed laughter and dreamt of swimming in blue eyes.

iv. 

JJ knew it was going to be a long day when Kiara barged into the Chateau with more enthusiasm than usual. He knew it was going to end up with him doing something he didn’t want to when Pope followed her in with a nervous smile on his face.

“Hello, boys! Got any plans today?” she asked in a sugary sweet voice.

JJ narrowed his eyes at her. He glanced over at John B who was staring warily at Kiara from his place at the kitchen table.

“Why?” they both asked, suspicion clear in both of their voices.

Kiara grinned. “Good, because we are going to work the charity event in town today.”

John B and JJ stared at Kiara, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Behind Kie, Pope shook his head and sighed.

“I told you they would laugh,” he mumbled to Kiara. She rolled her eyes at her idiot friends.

“I’m sorry, have you met us? Do we look like ‘respectable townsfolk’ to you?” John B chokes out.

JJ literally wiped tears from his eyes. “Yeah, Kie. What the hell is going on in that head of yours? What makes you think we would willingly let you drag us to some charity event?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. The look in her eye made both boys nervous.

“If you don’t go, no more free food from my parents’ restaurant the rest of the summer,” she said, daring them to challenge her. Pope, who was being unusually quiet, but his typical uncomfortable self, gestured wildly at them from behind Kiara, urging them to just agree.

John B and JJ both wanted to argue, say that they didn’t need food from the Wreck, but they both knew it was a lie. Even though Kiara’s parents didn’t agree with her choice in friends, they still gave them leftover food most nights. For two teenage boys without stable parents in their lives, this made all the difference and Kie knew it.

JJ narrowed his eyes at her, searching for a crack of weakness on her face or in her deep brown eyes, but he saw none. Either spending so much time with them was making her a better liar or she was being serious.

Reluctantly, swallowing their pride, they agreed. Kiara planted sloppy kisses on their cheeks before telling them to go clean up and wear something that didn’t look slept in or smelled like stale beer.

Within the hour, both boys were scrubbed clean and looked somewhat presentable. They headed into town in John B’s van as Kie and Pope chatted about what the event was for. Apparently, it was some Kook’s idea of hurricane relief efforts after the last big storm left most of the Cut in shambles. Pope had already volunteered them to help with his dad, distributing food from some food bank on the mainland.

When they got to the event, the Pogues were surprised to see how many people had turned up to help and get help. A lot of the stores and businesses around town had decided to pitch in, and they could even see some of the more charitable Kooks from Figure Eight helping out.

As soon as Pope’s dad caught sight of them, he rushed them over to where they would be distributing the food rations. There was some kind of organization system that Kie helped come up with, so, naturally, she was in charge. She told the boys where and who to drop boxes of food off to and they obeyed while she helped Heyward pack the food.

The afternoon passed fairly quickly, much to JJ’s surprise. He was sure the day was going to drag and be miserable enough for him to slip off on his own at some point. He was dropping boxes of food off to Mama Wilson, an old African American lady who used to babysit JJ when his dad was working, when he felt something bounce off his legs.

He shifted the box and caught sight of a small boy on the ground next to his feet. The kid was covered in mud and stunk like old fish guts. When he made eye contact with JJ, there was fear in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“the boy mumbled. JJ shifted the box of food again so he could crouch down to look at the kid. He knew that look in his eyes. He had seen it in his own eyes when he looked in the mirror at home. Fear and uncertainty were something every kid born in the Cut experienced. The fear of not knowing if you would survive that day, not knowing when your next meal would be or if you would have a safe place to stay for the night. JJ was very familiar with that feeling.

“Hey, kid. You need help or something?” JJ asked, trying to sound as least threatening as possible.

The kid opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He nodded instead. JJ looked around, searching for parents or a cop or something, but there was no one around. He had been on his way to a nearby neighborhood to get to Mama Wilson’s house which was a a good twenty-minute walk from the event.

He bit his lip and gazed down at the kid. Underneath the mud, JJ could see brown hair and a pair of chocolate brown eyes peeking out at him. The kid’s clothes were all torn up and raggedy looking, and his shoes didn’t look any better. Oh yeah, he was very familiar with this look.

“Alright, kid. I gotta drop this off at Mama Wilson’s house. You can come with me, and then, when we get back to the charity event, we can get you some help okay?”

The boy eyed him hesitantly, sizing JJ up. He raised an eyebrow at the kid but tried to look easy going. Safe. The kid must have deemed JJ as trustworthy because he got up from the ground and nodded.

“Okay, come on,” was all JJ said. The kid followed him slowly as he walked the remainder of the way to Mama Wilson’s.

Once he dropped the box of food off, he turned to see the kid standing by the curb and watching him.

“So what’s your name?” he asked as they began their walk back to the event.

“Toby,” the boy said.

“My name’s JJ. Got a last name, Toby?”

The boy stayed quiet.

“Okay, I get it. I’ve been there. You’re from the Cut right? You gotta be because kids from anywhere else are a lot more trusting and needy. Us Cut kids gotta stick together, right?”

The boy stared at him. “You don’t look like you’re from the Cut.”

JJ laughed. Kiara had forced him into a pair of shorts that didn’t have oil and dirt stains on them and one of John B’s psychedelic collared shirts instead of a cutoff. His trusty combat boots were still on his feet. “Yeah, my friend did a number on me today. She said I had to look like a ‘hardworking citizen’ and not a punk from the south side,” he mimicked Kiara’s voice.

Toby cracked a smile. _It’s progress_ , JJ thought to himself. He asked Toby questions as they walked and tried to make him laugh to help relax him.

Kiara was filling another box of food when John B asked her where JJ was. She looked up, confused. “I thought he was with you?”

“Nah, we split up to deliver some boxes. He was headed to Mama Wilson’s, and I went to the Martinez place,” John B told her. “He should have been back already.”

She sighed, “He better not have run off to avoid doing work.”

As she said that, she caught a flash of blonde hair in the crowd. She snapped her head up to see JJ walking towards the booth, pulling a kid behind him.

“Hey, either of y’all seen the sheriff? I got a friend here who needs some help,” JJ said to his friends. The boy hid behind his legs and glanced up at them with nervousness written all over his face. JJ patted the kid on the shoulder like he could sense how weary the boy was of them. Kiara and John B exchanged a look.

“No, I haven’t seen her. I can go find her though,” John B offered, amusement in his eyes. JJ nodded and John B took off into the crowd.

“JJ, who’s this?” Kiara asked gently. The boy peeked around JJ to stare at her, and she sent him a soft smile that she normally reserved for animals.

“Kie, this is my pal, Toby. Kid, this is Kiara. She’s my best friend. I told you about her, remember? She’s good people,” he assured the boy behind him. Kiara came around the table and knelt in front of Toby.

“Nice to meet you, Toby,” she stuck a hand out for him to shake. He watched her for a second, taking in her messy bun, old t-shirt, and cotton shorts she had worn to work in. She smiled at him again, and that did it. The boy smiled back and hesitantly shook her hand.

Kiara laughed, delighted that the boy liked her, and looked up at JJ. He was watching the interaction with soft eyes. There was a tenderness in them that she had never seen before. It seemed to wipe his face clean of his natural glare and worry lines that were starting to etch themselves into his skin after years of wondering if he was going to survive another day.

She stood up as John B came back with Sheriff Peterkin following close behind. Kiara leaned into John B as she watched JJ coax Toby out from behind his legs and helped explain his situation to the sheriff. He had that same tender look in his eye, and Kiara felt something inside her stir. She had never seen JJ interact with kids, and it was something she swore would be a bad idea. His harsh demeanor and vulgar language were definitely not something she thought could vanish and turn into compassion and patience in the presence of a helpless child. Then again, the longer she looked at Toby, the more she could see JJ in him.

Toby had that same scared look on his face that JJ tried to hide from them when he had to go home. She saw the battered clothes and thought of when she first met JJ when they were kids and he had to wear the same clothes three days in a row because his dad was too drunk to do laundry. The way Toby eyed Sheriff Peterkin wearily, obviously not trusting her, because that’s how kids from the Cut were raised. That was when she understood JJ’s soft demeanor with him. He probably saw some vulnerable kid from the Cut and recognized himself.

The thought made her heart ache. The look in JJ’s eyes was something she hoped to see again, maybe with his own kids one day if he ever managed to calm down enough to find a nice girl.

His eyes normally resembled something similar to a warm summer sky. Watching JJ interact with Toby, she thought of how his eyes resembled the color of her favorite denim cutoffs now. It reminded her of home. The gentleness he gave the boy softened JJ’s sharp edges, so Kiara could see the heart of gold she always knew was there so much more clearly now.

v. 

Kiara and the guys had gone to the closest thing the OBX had to an arcade down by the marina with their collected stash of coins in an old peanut butter jar. They never really got to do something out on the town since the boys were always strapped for cash or they were all working. Kiara had made it a point to make one day out of the summer strictly for themselves. They started the tradition before her Kook year. They would collect quarters throughout the year and fill up the peanut butter jar Kie had cleaned out for them and decorated with stickers. Then, one day in June, they would all meet up at the rundown arcade and spend the day playing old video games and pool.

It was probably one of their favorite days out of the year because they could just goof off and be teenagers without thinking of money or school or Kook drama. The Pogues could just hang out and let loose, relieving their stress in a non-recreational drug or alcohol kind of way.

The arcade itself used to be an old boat storage unit back in the eighties before the town thought they could make some money if they cleaned it up and turned it into an arcade for the tourists and locals to use. It was a good idea honestly. The walls were painted black and the black lights hanging from the ceiling actually made it feel like the arcades back on the mainland. There weren’t many machines since the town had a pretty low budget for stuff like this. There was a pinball machine, some ancient video games like Galaga and Pacman, a pool table, some first person shooting and car games, darts, and skee-ball.

Pope always stuck by the pinball machine because that was the only thing he was actually good at. He didn’t have fast enough reflexes like John B or JJ to beat the shooting or car games, and none of them could beat Kiara at darts or pool. The pinball machine was located by the front door, so Pope could always people watch as he was between games or nursed a Coke from the vending machine. It was a good vantage point to keep an eye on his troublemaker friends, too. He could hear the guys talking trash to each other as they played each other in some 2v2 shooting game they loved. He turned his head to see Kiara chatting up some Touron girl by the pool table in the far side of the room.

He went back to his game and heard the door open. A group of girls walked in, chatting about some guy named Trevor and how dreamy his eyes were. Pope rolled his eyes before ignoring the conversation and focusing on the silver ball bouncing from platform to platform.

Pope was so focused on the game that he almost missed the raised voices coming from the back corner. It wasn’t until he heard Kiara’s voice that his head snapped up.

The group of girls that had walked in earlier were surrounding Kiara by the pool table. The Touron girl she had been talking to was long gone. He couldn’t see his friend’s face through the crowd of girls, but he could hear the anger clear in her voice. Suddenly, the girl who must have been the leader of the group, shoved Kiara’s shoulders. Kie, peacekeeper, level headed Kie straight up decked the girl.

“Oh shit,” Pope muttered under his breathe. He ditched his game to go find the others. He might be taller than Kiara, but there was no way he would be able to pull the very pissed off girl away without some back up.

He found John B and JJ high fiving at the game they had just finished playing, and when he ran up to them, their smiles fell when they saw his face.

“What happened?” John B demanded.

“Kiara and some girl are fighting by the pool table—” he didn’t get to finish his sentence before his friends turned to push through the crowd to find Kie. Pope dutifully followed them, elbowing and shoving people out of his way to catch up with his friends. He suddenly ran into John B’s back when the boy had abruptly stopped.

He wiggled his way around to stand beside John B and JJ, and his jaw dropped.

Kiara was still in the circle of girls, but now the girl who shoved her was on top of her clawing at Kie’s face. The girl was no one Pope recognized. Looking from the girl’s pale pink tube top that was threatening to slide down her chest and her crisp white shorts, he realized she had to have been a Kook.

The girl let out a yell as Kiara managed to shove her off and roll them to where Kie was on top, gathering the girl’s dark hair in one hand to yell in her face. “I didn’t sleep with your boyfriend, you dumb bitch. And don’t you ever talk crap about my friends again.”

With every word, Kiara pulled the girl’s hair tighter in her grip. As if to emphasize her point, Kie slapped the girl before throwing her down and climbing off. She shook her curls back from her face, smoothed down the side where the girl had tried grabbing a fistful, and smoothed down her crop top and jean shorts. She stared down at the girl, whose friends were helping up, before turning and faced the crowd.

The Kook girl’s face looked rough to say the least. There were scratches on her cheeks and jaw, and one of her eyes was already swelling. The imprint of Kiara’s dolphin mood ring could be seen in the swollen, bruised skin. Her hair was practically standing on end like she got electrocuted from when Kiara had it in a death grip. There was still a handprint across her cheek from the slap.

The boys saw the claw marks on Kie’s cheek and underneath her left eye. There was a purple bruise on her collarbone, and she had a handful of the girl’s black hair. Kiara grimaced at the clump of hair in her hand before she turned back and tossed it at the Kook girl. “Here’s your wig back,” she told the girl in a sugary sweet voice.

JJ was the first to snap out of his daze. “Holy shit, Kie. You okay? What the hell happened?”

Kiara grinned at her friends before grabbing the peanut butter jar still full of their change off the pool table next to her and shoving her way through the crowd. The boys quickly followed her outside.

“That psycho thought I was sleeping with her boyfriend just because one of her friends saw me dancing with him at the kegger a few weeks ago,” Kie explained. The boys all blinked up at her nonchalant tone.

“Were you?” John B asked.

Kie wrinkled her nose at him. “No, of course not. We just danced. You can ask JJ, he saw us.”

They all turned to look at JJ, who was trying to remember the night she was talking about. He frowned when he remembered the Kook boy Kiara had played keep away with at the kegger down at the Boneyard in the beginning of the summer. He remembered watching them dance together, thinking of how he wished he could shove the guy away from her and taking his place. The strange feeling of anger shaking him down to his core.

JJ nodded his head. “Yeah, I remember that. The Kook right?”

It was Kiara’s turn to nod.

“So that girl’s friend saw ya’ll together and just assumed you were screwing him,” JJ said. There was an ugly metallic taste in his mouth, and he swallowed in hopes of getting rid of it. It didn’t work.

“Okay, but what made you punch her?” Pope asked. John B and JJ stared at him with wide eyes before looking back at Kie.

She started walking down the pier, back towards John B’s van, and they rushed to catch up with her. For someone who had the shortest legs of the group, she could move pretty fast when she wanted to.

“You decked the bitch?” JJ practically yelled as he laughed at the outrageousness of it all. Kiara was never one to resort to violence. Sure, she would slap at their arms or chest when they annoyed her. And there was that one time she slapped John B for being a dumbass. But, for as long as the boys knew her, Kiara had never, not once, gotten into a full-on catfight.

Kiara stopped next to the van and leaned against the side panel. She had her bottom lip between her teeth and shrugged.

John B and JJ shared a shocked look, erupting in laughter. Pope was still watching Kiara, waiting for her to answer his question. The guys stopped laughing as they all waited for her response.

“She called you guys south side trash and said I was probably sleeping with all of ya’ll. That you guys didn’t want to be my friends after I ditched ya’ll during my Kook year, so you were using me,” the words fell in a tumble from her mouth. The boys all froze. Without looking at them, she started rambling, “Which I know isn’t true. But I just got so angry when she said that. Like I literally felt my blood start boiling and my hands shaking. She said that she felt bad for you guys because you were stuck with me, the mixed trash. Then, she shoved me, and it was game over.”

“Kie,” John B started, but she shook her head and met their eyes.

“It’s okay, I know it isn’t true. She just got under my skin a little. That’s my fault,” was all she said. None of the boys knew what to say. They all just started at each other, clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Pope shuffled his feet awkwardly. “So, uh, ya’ll wanna go get food?”

They all looked at each other and laughed at Pope’s typical uncomfortable attempts of not being awkward. Just like that, the moment was over, and they were back to being normal and goofing off.

“Shotgun!” JJ and Pope yelled at the same time. They stared at each other.

“Alright, ya’ll know the rules. Hash it out,” John B told them.

The two boys stared at each other, looked the other up and down, and got into dramatic fighting stances. Kiara rolled her eyes at them and JB leaned against the van beside her. They stood there watching JJ and Pope dramatically raise their hands to play rock, paper, scissors for the shotgun seat. Pope won, of course, but JJ demanded they play two out of three.

Kiara was still watching the boys play when John B nudged her shoulder with his. “Hey, you good? Like that Kook didn’t hurt you too bad right?”

“You kidding me? Did you forget that you and JJ were the ones who taught me how to fight? I had that shit handled,” she laughed.

“No, I mean about what she said, Kie,” he said softly. That made her tear her eyes away from the others and meet his gaze.

“I told you, she just got under my skin. But I know what she said wasn’t true. We’re stuck with each other because we’re family. Pogue life, right?”

He grinned. “Hell yeah, Pogue life till the day we die.”

“Ha, get your ass to the back!” Pope yelled in triumph with his arms raised over his head. JJ muttered something under his breathe before making his way to the side panel Kiara was leaning against. John B went around the van and climbed into the driver’s seat, and Pope flung the passenger side door open.

Kiara moved so JJ could slide open the back door. “My lady, your rusty steed awaits,” he told her in a fake posh accent and dramatically bowing.

“Why, thank you, my dear servant. What ever would I do without you?” Kiara replied in an equally posh voice. She took the hand he offered her and climbed into the back of the beat up van.

As they drove off to the Wreck, John B and Pope chatted in the front about the work Heyward had been doing with Ward Cameron this week. JJ and Kiara sat beside each other on the bench seat in the back, neither of them speaking.

JJ glanced over at her face and his eyes focused on the scratches under her eye. He knew how much they must be hurting her, but Kiara endured it silently. He could see the indent from the Kook’s nails in Kie’s skin, and his hands were itching to hold her face and kiss the pain away.

Instead, he touched her arm, catching her attention. She had been staring off into space, and she had to blink a few times to focus on him.

“You good, Kie?”

Kiara smiled at him. “Yeah, I’m good. You know me, I can handle Kooks.”

He grinned back at her. He knew Kiara was tough. Hell, she was probably the toughest one out of all of them. That’s why they got along. She could dish back any crap they threw at her without blinking. JJ couldn’t even count the amount of times she had wrestled with them over the years, but he could definitely count on one hand the number of times he had seen her cry. This girl was tough as shit.

Kiara’s smile widened into a grin as she stared back at him. Here, in the bright afternoon light, his eyes carried the ocean in them. They carried warmth and life in the shades of pale blue that seemed to become brighter the longer she stared. The amusement that rarely left his face was present in his eyes. They reminded her of days spent on the water in the HMS Pogue and laughing over drinking games and pushing each other into the water. They reminded her of happiness. Now, all she wanted was to fall into his ocean eyes and be sucked down by the current of the ocean she was so sure was hidden inside them. She wanted to be engulfed in this carefree happiness in his eyes, but she knew it wouldn’t last. Eventually, the day would be over, and they would all go home. JJ would have to face his father, and she knew his bright blue eyes would morph into the color of sleet and ice.

For now, though, she would watch him be happy. She would watch him joke with the guys and tease her until she rolled her eyes. She would sling her arm around his shoulder as they walked to her parents’ restaurant. She would feel his gaze on her as she waked to the counter to beg her dad for some leftovers from the lunch rush and watch as his eyes shut when he tasted her dad’s infamous fish sandwich. She would watch as the low light from the setting sun catch in his blue and eyes and sprinkle gold arcs in them as he talked to John B about some surfing trick he managed to nail earlier in the week. And, at the end of the night, when they went their separate ways, Kiara saw his ocean eyes harden as he prepared to face his father.

It was moments like that when she wished he would let her cradle him in her arms and never let go. That he would let her give him enough love and kindness to wash his pain away and then some. But she couldn’t do that.

Instead, she watched his figure disappear into the night and towards the one person that could take the dancing ocean life out of his eyes and turn them into stone cold ice.


End file.
